Ready, Aim, Fire
by Skaterbob2
Summary: The Minutemen have dragged the Institute leaders out of the shadows of obsurity and into the light to answer for their crimes, including Nate’s son. The Commonwealth demands blood is spilled, and Nate has no choice but to grant their wish. Rated M for multiple death scenes


The elevator doors parted, revealing a familiar scene to Nate. He looked inside the glass cage where the synth copy of his son was kept, he could only guess where the synth was now, and pray that he could get to the teleporter safely. With his rifle raised, he turned to the two Minutemen behind him, "I'll search his quarters, if I find something I'll holler." The two soldiers nodded and watched their general move through the door and into the directors quarters.

Nate scanned the balcony, not a soul in sight, though it was doubtful that anyone from the institute had one to speak of. He turned his head down the far hallway, nobody inside the bathroom. He raised his up towards the stairs and cautiously made his way to the next floor, step by step.

When he reached to the top, he was greeted with the sight of his son. Sitting on the pristine red couch, sipping from a container of purified water. He barely even gave Nate a glance before muttering "Father."

"I didn't want it to end this way, Shaun." Nate said, lowering his gun. He stepped further inside, Shaun rested his drink on the table and stood up to be at eye level with his traitorous father.

"Like hell, you didn't." Shaun spat in an uncharacteristic display of anger. Nate has known this old man for two months, and he'd never seen him so furious. Though he could hardly blame him. "You were never on our side. Since the very beginning," Shaun continued. "I should've had an entire squad of coursers waiting for you the second you arrived."

"I tried to accept this," Nate defended himself. "The institute, synths... who you've become." Shaun scoffed. "But I can't. This isn't right Shaun, what your people have done isn't right. University Point, the Broken Mask, Switchboard and what you did to Valentine. It's pure evil. And if you can't recognize that, then I guess I truly lost my son in the vault."

"And how can you not recognize that what we do is for humanity?" Shaun retorted. "And all that I did to make us a proper family again, but you spat on my efforts at every turn. Freeing the synths at Bunker Hill, killing Kellogg, turning Doctor Li against us." He pointed outside before continuing. "And this..." the sound of gunfire and synths relaying filled the silence.

"I've done what I've done to keep you from killing more people!" Nate began to lose his temper, "Do you know what I've seen up there, the shit I've seen people suffer because of your work?! I've seen brothers turning on each other and killing them selves in the streets, friends executing each other for being synths, entire towns wiped out! How can you claim to be "bettering humanity" when all your doing is killing its members?!" Nate finished his yelling, before making a half-assed attempt to calm himself down.

"You're right," Nate looked into Fathers eyes, seeing nothing in them but hatred. "I did lose my father in the vault. He would've been smart enough to realize the truth."

Nate absorbed the words, feeling the loss of his son hit him like a train. "Do whatever you want, I don't have long for this world anyway. And thank god for that, I can't stand the thought of humanity's future without our help."

"Help? That's what you call this? What about the Commonwealth Provisional Government? The settlements of the commonwealth banding together to form a partnership, they were helping themselves just fine." Nate argued. "But you sent your fucking coursers to kill them all. You don't give a shit about the well-being of the Commonwealth or humanity at all! You wanted them to answer to you! Because you're a just a power hungry, bullshitting, brainwashed old piece of garbage!" Shaun wiped the stunned look off his face, and quickly resumed his usual stoic manner. "What was the difference between them an my Minutemen, huh?" Nate asked. "It's because I was leading them, wasn't it? You didn't want to massacre us, because it ruin your... what was it you called me? Oh, that's right. It'd ruin your experiment."

"Clearly I made the wrong choice, you've helped me realize that well enough father."Shaun turned to his father, "Congratulations Nate, you've killed your son and humanity. Bask in your achievement."

"You bet your ass I will, while I do that you can just sit there and die you miserable old bastard." Nate spat.

He turned away from his son, marching towards the terminal. He pulled out a portable radio as he settled into the clean office chair, while Shaun took in the view from the window of his entire empire crumbling. "Garvey, I'm at the terminal. Once I've disengaged the lockdown, begin rounding up division heads and anybody else important." A staticy and unintelligible response came from the radio, Nate could only guess it was an "Understood" from Preston.

He bypassed the security on the terminal and scrolled through the options, eventually clicking on "Disengage Lockdown Protocol" and "Begin Emergency Evacuation." The alarm began blaring as the voice of a woman instructed Institute personal to vacate to the nearest evacuation point. Nate grabbed his gun, "Alright men!" He yelled downstairs, "let's get a move on." He heard the two trotting through the quarters. When they saw Shaun standing passively, they wrestled his arms behind his back and began tying a rope around his wrists.

Nate stepped between them, "Hey! Leave him be, he's just an old man. Let him die in peace." Shaun looked at his father with confusion, why would he stick up for him. Then he realized what a coward he was, he didn't have the guts to be in anyway responsible for the death of his son.

"Hypocritical coward." Shaun muttered.

One of the soldier pushed a finger to Nate's chest. "Listen General, this guy is the leader of the institute. He's ruined countless lives and ended even more, you gave the order yourself, round up anybody important to be taken into captivity. Well this guy is pretty damn important, and I'm gonna be damned if this monster doesn't face execution by Minutemen hands at the Castle."

Nate sighed, looked at Shaun, then back at his soldiers. He swiped the rope from their hands, and tied Shaun's hands together himself. "You, take him to the teleporter. You stay with me." Nate took point into the stairwell, as Shaun scowled at his back, not even trying to fight his bindings or his escort.

**One week later...**

Nate watched the sun rise of the water, today was the day he'd been dreading. Today was the day that the Castles jail, which had been exceedingly full lately, would become much more empty. Nate tried desperately to focus on the empty sounds of the waves, and the calming feeling of the wind gently hitting his shoulder. But it was to no avail, all his mind focused on was today's festivities.

Executions, while not uncommon at The Castle, every now and then a raider boss would get themselves captured or a Gunner commander let his guard down, they'd end up meeting their end while looking down the barrels of a firing squad. But this particular execution had the entire Commonwealth talking. Today was the day that the big wigs of the Institute got a taste of Minutemen justice.

Nate looked down at his hands, he held Mr. Bear. He had become ruined after two hundred and ten years, but the memories were fresh as ever. He remember this being Shaun's favorite toy, though he kept tossing it out of his crib. He must've had some attachement to the teddy bear, since he had a habit of burst into tears every time the bear left his reach.

He turned his head to the sound of the sand and dried grass crushing underneath a set of paws belonging to a certain canine. Nate smiles as Dogmeat circled him excitedly and wagged his tail. He bent down to reach the dogs level and gave him a friendly neck scratch, which the hound greatly appreciated. He smiled as Dogmeat gratefully barked, he looked down at the contents of his other palm. "You want this boy?" Nate raised the bear, and Dogmeat enthusiastically jumped around in an unmistakable dog version of "yes."

Nate tossed the bear towards Dogmeat and the canine caught the teddy bear in the air. He wrestled with the toy before trotting back to his doghouse.

"He always was a mooch," Nate turned and saw the snickering synth detective. "You alright?" He asked.

"How'd you find me back here? I thought only me and the guy who fixes the water purifier knew about this spot." Nate asked.

"Dogmeat isn't just a mooch, he's also quite the snitch too, I'm sure you can attest to that," Nick joked, Nate cracked a smile too at the memory of tracking down Kellogg. That seemed like a year ago, things weren't so complicated then. He almost wished he could go back to then. "Anyway," Nick continued, "You didn't answer my question so I'll ask again. You alright?"

Nate sighed, he didn't exactly know the answer to that. "I'm fine." He told Nick.

"We both know that's not true, but I'm just gonna go with that." Damn... Nick saw right through him, it was one of those traits about him that was insufferable at times. "Since that's what we're calling the truth, why'd I see you giving Shaun's toy to Dogmeat?" Nick questioned.

"How'd you know that belonged to him?" Nate asked.

"I doubt you'd be the type of person to sleep with one, plus I figured Piper would be good enough bedside company that you wouldn't need to invest in toys." Nick smirked.

Nate jerked his head towards the synth, "How'd you find out about that?" He thought he and Piper had kept things discreet.

"Pipers a journalist, even if it's her own personal news, she's gotta report it to somebody." The two chuckled, "I was always the one she went to, everyone else in the city gave her the cold shoulder. I guess some things just never change, plus she's not as great as sneaking through the Castle as she thinks she is. I spotted her tiptoeing to your room the first week she got here."

The two stared at the ocean for a while, Nate prayed Valentine wouldn't remember to continue his earlier line of questioning now or later, he was so grateful he'd stopped that he was willing to forgive the invasion of his and Pipers privacy.

"Well, they're probably serving breakfast in the mess hall by now." Valentine dismissed himself, "I'll see you there?" He asked.

"I'll be there soon." Nate responded, the detective nodded and began walking back towards the gate. The General turned back towards the calm sea and sighed, before pushing his back off the wall and towards the Castle.

He found his way to the mess hall, which was really just a glorified bar that catered to the tired soldiers of the Castle. He found himself a seat in a booth near a corner. It wasn't long before a few friends joined him.

"Hey blue!" Piper greeted as she slid in next to him, not close enough to arouse suspicion from Preston, while Valentine, who had seated themselves across from Nate, just flashed that same smirk from earlier.

"We grabbed you a sweet roll and some water." Preston handed him the plate carrying the sugary treat and the bland canteen of purified water.

"Thanks Garvey, I'll pay you back for it later." Nate said as he took his first bite.

"Uh huh, how many times have I heard that before?" Preston laughed.

The group sat for a while, eating and trying desperately to keep their topic of discussion away from the thing on every Minutemans mind that day. It was rather hopeless, every Minuteman in the bar was talking about it, loudly for that matter.

Nate wiped his hands in a fruitless hope to rid himself of the sweet roll crumbs. Between the sticky syrup and the radiation mutation, those crumbs would be sticking to him for a while. "I'm gonna head for a walk." Nate tried to excuse himself, Piper looking at him with pity before Preston piped up.

"Actually General... the execution is in ten minutes. We need to head over now." Nate felt his stomach drop, time to attend the event he'd been dreading since he pushed the button that destroyed the Institute. He couldn't delay it any longer, so he sighed and put on a fake smile as he followed Preston to the courtyard.

They walked outside, where they were greeted with the board of directors in handcuffs, along with some other Institute members. All of them waiting to be executed, one by one. Nate's eyes landed on Father, his lab coat was no longer pristine and had been infected and stained by all the dirt and unpleasantness the commonwealth had to offer.

He walked up the stairs to a platform, looking over the execution square, and the team of eight executioners, all volunteers. They actually had about half the enlisted Minutemen volunteer to be the ones who put down the biggest names tied to the boogeyman of the commonwealth. Nate wanted to be sick, but he couldn't blame them. All of these people had been wronged, himself included. They understandably wanted justice.

He only wished they wouldn't demand it from Shaun.

He wished they'd just left him to die peacefully in the Institute, if that had been the case, he'd have no problem. But overseeing his sons execution felt morbid to him.

But he was the General... he had a responsibility and duty to fulfill.

He looked over the list of the prisoners that would be executed...

_Allie Filmore_

_Clayton Holdren_

_Justin Ayo_

_Evan Watson_

_Alan Binet_

_Father ???_

Nate looked up, the first name on the list was about to be crossed off. A Minuteman dragged Filmore to the wooden pole, she looked like she was resisting the urge to cry. Nate looked at the crowd that had formed in the span of the last few hours, Minutemen, settlers, caravaners, Diamond City and Goodneighbor residents alike had made the trip to the Castle. The Minuteman tied a rope around Filmore and the beam, making sure to tighten it before giving a thumbs up to Nate's second in command.

Ronnie stepped out onto the dirt. She straightened her posture and cleared her throat before barking at the executioners, "Ready!" The first row of four Minutemen crouched down at they all moved their hands from the butt of their hunting rifles to the grip.

"Aim!" The orchestra of weapons cocking filled the silence of the empty Castle. Allie let a few sobs as she accepted her fate.

"Fire!" A torrent of harsh gunshots pierced the air as Allie fell limp, the only thing keeping her vertical was the taut rope. The Minutemen resumed their original stance, as Filmores corpse was untied and dragged somewhere Nate could only imagine.

Nate watched Clayton beg to the Minuteman pulling him to spare his life, shameless tears filling his eyes and spilling onto his cheeks. The soldier groaned and tied Holdren to the pole. The bioscientist never accepted his fate, and kept crying "No!" up until Ronnie gave the order to fire.

The soldiers wasted no time dragging the body away and pulling a new on towards its fate. Justin Ayo screamed like a madman "Please! Please don't do this! I'm acting director, not the real one! I'll tell you how to find Zimmerman, I'll tell you the names of all our commonwealth spies! Just don't kill me, please!"

"Quit your begging." The Minuteman things him up scolded, "We got the list of your spies while ransacking your lab, they're all on their way to experience Minutemen justice, I can promise you that." He snickered as he walked out of the way and let the firing squad do their job.

"Fire!"

Ayos head slumped to the side, the next prisoner was immediately put in the empty position on the pike. Watson walked up without a fight, the defeated and depressed look never leaving his face as he was tied up. Ronnie sighed and rubbed her temples, before repeating her command "Ready! Aim!" The Minutemen raised their rifles, waiting for the cue... "Fire!"

Nate turned his attention to the next few waiting in line. He recognized them, one of them was Alan Binet, and his son was there too... no handcuffs and no Institute jumper. He was dressed in a common blue jacket and was begging the Minuteman to let his father go.

"Please! He's not even in the directorate! Robotics isn't an official branch! Please!" Tears mercilessly poured from his eyes and snot threatened to leak from his nose, though the soldier stood remorselessly. Eventually, Binet was summoned to the chopping block, and Liam collapsed.

"It's okay Liam, everything will be alright!" His father yelled for his son.

"No! No! No! Please stop! Spare him! Kill me instead!" He pleaded. A pair of Minutemen shoved him back as his father was greeted with the sight of several rifle barrels.

"Ready!"

"Please stop!"

"Aim!"

Nate heard a shove and looked down to see two Minutemen stumbling to the ground.

"Fire!"

He turned back just in time to see Liam take a few shots to the chest as he ran in front of his father. He fell, face first into the grass and made no sign of getting up.

"Liam!" Nate recoiled at the doctors suit, covered in the red blood of his child.

Ronnie gasped, Nate could've sworn he saw her lip quiver. She cleared her throat, "Fire!" She repeated.

Binet's suffering ended as the executioners reluctantly opened fire once more.

The majority of the crowd had turned their heads, some excused themselves from the event entirely. Nate was the only one still keeping his gaze on the stand, when the last name was called and he saw his son be dragged by the forearm and receive the same treatment his colleagues received.

Ronnie sighed and straightened her back. "Ready!"

"Wait!" Nate stood from the platform and leaned against the fence, all eyes in the Castle were on him, except for Shaun's.

"Father, you're crimes are arguably the worst of anyone at the institute, you've given orders to kill entire settlements and kidnap innocent people, only to replace them with machines or do your bidding. I'd like to ask, do you have any final words for the people of the commonwealth?" Nate spat. "Perhaps an apology?"

Shaun remained silent, before his grave and tired voice echoed across the courtyard, giving a chilling message. "I'll see you in hell, General. Along with the rest of humanity, you've certainly seen to that."

Nate tightened his jaw. "Going our with your dignity in the trash, I expected no less of you," with that he turned and nodded to Ronnie.

"Aim!"

Nate closed his eyes, unable to watch what was before him.

"Fire!"

The gunshots seemed louder this time. Like they were right next to his ear, his entire body shook and his eyes remained shut, he had no idea how long he stayed like this.

"Blue?" Nate felt Piper squeeze his shoulder, he pried his eyes open and found her eyes staring back at him with concern. "Are you alright?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Nate looked at the field, the bodies were gone and the crowd had disappeared.

She grasped his clenched hand, he relaxed at her touch and relaxed his sore fingers. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Her voice cracked.

Nate sighed, "Well, I had to keep up appearances. But I can see now why firing squads were considered one of the more distasteful forms of execution." Nate chuckled, "Glad I never had to be one of those poor bastards, pulling that trigger." Piper listened to him ramble, clearly trying to ignore the days events.

"Blue..."

He stares at the ground. "It's different when their tied up... it's just not fair... it's like shooting a-" his voice broke and he covered his mouth.

"Like shooting... a child."

He sniffled and cleared his throat, "Why couldn't he have been a kid. Why couldn't I get to be a father to him? Instead of my son, I got a murderous sociopath." Piper squeezed his hand.

"I just wish I could've had a chance... ya know... to be and actual father for him, maybe then he'd be sitting next to me, instead of in the mass grave outside." Piper turned his head towards her and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Blue..." she whispered. "What happened to you isn't fair, how you're still standing is a mystery to me. You're the strongest person I know, but..." she hesitated for a moment.

"But what?"

"You have the chance." She pointed towards the western castle door, leading towards the armory. The synth boy they picked up from the Institute walked outside with a lost look on his face.

"I don't know Piper, sure, he looks real enough." Nate looked at him again. "He looks just like me when I was his age. But he's a synth, he's not my son, no matter what his programming says."

"Hey, we kept Curie, Danse and Nick around." She tried a light attempt at humor, but quickly realized this wasn't what Nate needed. "Look, I heard the holotape the kid gave you, if Shaun meant what he said... think if it as honoring your sons last wish."

Nate sighed, "I'm not sure Piper, I doubt he meant what he said. There was nothing but hostility between us when I met him inside the Institute, why would he let me have a child version of him?"

"Nate... just ask yourself, is there any part of you that cares about Shaun, not the man in the Institute, but the one on the recording, the one you thought of when searching for him for weeks without rest, the Shaun you cared for before the bombs dropped. If there is, I think the choice is clear."

Nate looked at the boy again, he stood up and walked off the platform. He passed Dogmeats doghouse and grabbed Mr. Bear off the dirty welcome mat inside the small shelter. He walked across the courtyard and kneeled in front of the synth boy, who was now glowing at the sight of his "father."

"Hey dad!"

"Hey... Shaun."

Piper watched from across the courtyard, a big smile on her face. She watched Nate hand Shaun the teddy bear, the kid looked like he was on cloud nine as he and his dad walked inside the Castle together.

"This place is so cool! I never thought I'd live in a real castle!" Nate laughed, his heart beating a thousand miles an hour. "Hey... dad? Why'd they make me stay in here this morning?" His small fingers pointed to the armory.

Nate gulped, he sat down on a crate to meet Shaun's eye level. "There was just some training going on in the courtyard, we didn't want you to get hurt. That's all." He tried to brush it off, but Shaun kept going.

"There were a lot of loud bangs outside, that Ronnie lady was shouting a lot." Shaun said with a far away look in his eyes. "One woman walked in here crying, she said something to her friend about feeling sorry for them."

"It was just... high intensity training... some people can't handle it. A lot of people... break down a bit." Nate answered.

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna go hang out with Nat, by dad, I love you." Shaun waved goodbye.

Nate waved back, "I... love you too, Shaun."


End file.
